German police spent Sunday chasing daytrippers off the slopes of a closed ski resort after hundreds of people flocked to Vinterberg, east of Dusseldorf, defying appeals from authorities to stay home.

Vinterberg has seen a rush off thousands in recent days, leading to traffic jams and overcrowded parking lots.

Earlier in the day, police had sought to block access to the town, but spokesman Sebastian Held said the district's interconnected slopes covering thousands of square miles have posed a challenge when trying to enforce Germany's strict regulations.

Unfortunately, we saw again today that they announced band to access the ski slopes did not stop too many people from coming here anyway.

That's why we had to close the access roads here in consultation with the town.

This means that we have consistently closed the main access roads leading to Vinterberg in order to prevent the ski slopes from filling up again.

Authorities said they had registered 176 violations of the face mask wearing law and 94 violations of social distancing rules.

Germany is likely to extend its national lock down beyond January 10th.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders are expected to agree to the extension when they convene on Tuesday.

It is not yet clear how long the extension will last.